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"I am secure in the love of my Father, but I’ve been unsure about the family of God. My relationships in every single church I have ever been a part of have been based on ministry performance.
My phone rang off the hook when I was in the swirl at our former large church. But once I pulled the plug and pulled back, the little red light on my answering machine stopped blinking. What happened? People I thought I had a caring friendship with were suddenly no longer all that interested in me. But how could they be? Our only context for relating was in church and in church related busyness. They loved me when we were in the building together. Sundays were awesome. For ninety minutes. But then, when the doors were closed and it seemed like I was usually one of the last ones to leave, I’d head home and for the next six days my life was disconnected. The phone quiet. Messages unreturned. Emails ignored."

Twenty years ago, I heard a prominent prophetic minister say that all believers need to be receiving signs, signals and tokens. He was confirming what I intuitively already believed. I do believe that God and His angels can do things in our natural realm to guide us, protect us, or to confirm things. However, I do not believe all things or even all coincidences are signs from God. My overarching belief about these things is that I do not follow signs. I might see signs and ponder them or consider if God is behind the coincidence.Signs are confirmations. Spiritual signs are like signs on the road. They are neither the road nor the destination. But signs are a good thing.

Jesus had stern words for religious people who demanded a sign from him and ignored those who taunted him for signs when he was being crucified. However, Gideon was permitted to ask for a sign (Judges 6:17. Zechariah was rebuked for asking for more of a sign when God had already given …

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble. A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.

Proverbs 17:17 KJV, MSG, NLT

I talked to a couple friends and my brother yesterday. I love both my friends and my brother and my friends are like brothers. But what's the difference or is there one? The word here makes the observation that while a good friend loves you through thick and thin, your brother or sister is there at your worst times. It doesn't mean that your friend is not there when you are in trouble, but that your sibling is there. Another way of saying it is that God gives you friends or sends you as a friend to give unconditional love and support to another person, but God gives siblings to be there no matter what.

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 MSG, NLT

The new year has begun, but how do you cope with that fact that you are still standing in the old? Whatever our personal circumstances are, if we are Christ-followers, these verses apply to us. The exact word that I'm considering is to, "give thanks on all occasions". We don't give thanks for everything that happens, but we give thanks to God no matter what happens and no matter where we're at. It's an attitude adjustment or an alignment. Wherever I'm at, I will align myself with the fact that God is good; and thankfulness does that or expresses that. I am thankful (to God) no matter what.

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About Me

In-between means the time between the times, the time of the already and the not yet. We live in a tension of a kingdom coming, yet not fully come.
There is also a place the Celts called the liminal place, where the membrane between heaven and earth is thin. We are living on the edge of heaven, but still on earth
Liminality is the in-between place of disorientation. When you are a subject of the King and hail to the kingdom of God, but live in this world; there is a tension. Liminality is also descriptive of the transformation, and regeneration that Christ brings in our lives.